Always Fresh, Always Tim Hortons.

After returning from a fun, yet tiresome vacation I was greeted with the following advertisement situated above the baggage claim belt in the Toronto airport:

What was my reaction to this advertisement?

I'm sure I wasn't the only Tim Horton's deprived Canadian who reacted by hopping in the car and driving to the nearest location. Tim Horton's has done a great job associating themselves with one's home. When I think of home, a few words come to mind; comfort, belonging, welcoming, family, love, and warmth, (to name a few). It's safe to say that a consumer is compelled to make a purchase when that specific purchase evokes positive emotions. Not only did this advertisement bring to mind the feelings of home, but it also made me proud to be Canadian. The feeling of Canadian culture coupled with the comforts of home I had been missing for the previous two weeks, made my Tim Horton's purchase inevitable.

My point: Find a way to associate a positive emotion to your product. It's effective.

Imsorry.com

I have no excuse for not writing over the past two months. I apologize to my few blog readers. I gathered inspiration for this post from Imsorry.com, a website that allows people to send apologetic letters, emails, and gifts. 


Here is an example of a "real apology" from a user, Cody, of Imsorry.com. Im my opinion, Cody screwed up...


"I'm so sorry that they used a picture of you in the paper. It is a very pretty picture of you... but there are very few that aren't pretty. :) All My Love- Cody"


And I screwed up as well, by not blogging for ages; for creating this blog and not committing to it. As soon as I'm back from vacation (1 week) I will re-commit myself to blogging again.


Until then... I'll leave you with this. Liz Murray's life was full of apologies- apologies from her mother, her father, and almost everyone that she ever grew to love. Her book, Breaking Night tells her story of how she went from being homeless, to graduating from Harvard. Although this book is not directly about business, I think aspiring leaders can learn a lot from Liz. In Breaking Night, Liz exhibits great perseverance in stressful and ambiguous situations. Similarly, CEOs, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and anyone else that is an aspiring business leader face stressful and ambiguous situations on a daily basis. 


Chances are Liz will inspire you, motivate you, or at least shed a different perspective on the daily problems we face. 


Write in a week. Imsorry.com

Daredevil. Opportunist. Entrepreneur.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." 

-Charles H. Duell, 1899, U.S. Commissioner of Patents

Don't you always think that everything that can be invented, has been? I find myself thinking of this on the regular. It seems that Charles and I are similar in this aspect. But boy, was Charles H. Duell wrong. He probably couldn't've been more wrong. The Model T wasn't even a thought in 1899. Cars, computers, medical science advances... 

I sat in on a presentation on Entrepreneurship today, given by Jeff Greenspoon, CEO of Spoke Agency in Toronto. At the age of 25, he has already successfully started 13 ventures. His presentation focused on the things he's learned along the way, and I'm here to provide you with his knowledge. This is what I took away from his presentation.

1. Surround yourself with great people, and know when something isn't right. 

• If you hire someone and you feel that they aren't a great fit with your company, address the situation when it occurs. Don't let someone in your organization work for you that isn't what you had imagined them to be. Being an entrepreneur isn't about coping, but getting things done the way you had envisioned. 

 2. Lead ideas with business logic.

• You may have a great idea, but is it feasible? Meatcards.com had a great idea, but it wasn't feasible. Use business logic to guide your strategies.

3. Say yes to every opportunity you get. 

• Participating in whatever you can will only enhance your knowledge and experience, making you a well-rounded individual.

4. Know your numbers inside and out. 

• Is this client making us money? What about that client? Or that client?

5. The final two percent means the most.

• The end of the project is where you can really shine through as an entrepreneur. 

6. Passion and energy.

• Show passion and energy in everything that you do. 

7. Businesses may come and go, but your network and insights last forever.

• Leverage your network to the best of your ability. Take in as much wisdom as you can from those around you. 

Entrepreneurs are constantly developing great ideas, but it's the execution that makes an entrepreneur successful. Without great execution, great ideas cease to exist. I hope that you can learn from Jeff Greenspoon as I have, and apply his key learning points to your business. 

Your Brand.

"Your premium brand had better be delivering something special,

 or it's not going to get the business." - Warren Buffet

It's difficult to make your product stand out in a crowded marketplace. I'm dealing with a different battle- my personal brand. It's difficult to make myself stand out from other highly intelligent students fighting for top jobs. First impressions are everything, but what good are they if you're not remembered? I'm not here to tell you how you can make yourself stand out. That's impossible. But you can use a unique and innovative business card that will make you remembered with recruiters. Try something different, something innovative, and you're more likely to leave a lasting impression. 

Unique Business Card #1- The Peanut business card.

A Japanese company named Arigatou is using laser engraving technology to print logos, names and telephone numbers on organic materials like beans, rice and peanuts. Although this is very creative, I'm not sure how well this would be received in North America. With a large number of peanut allergies, handing this out at a networking event when the top executive has a serious nut allergy may not go over too well. Nonetheless, this is really cool.

Unique Business Card #2- The Meat business card. 

Just like Arigatou, a company called Meatcards uses high powered lasers. These high powered lasers burn your contact information into a dried piece of meat. 

Unique Business Card #3- The Scratch business card. 

Just like a lotto ticket, scratch the card to unveil your contact information. 

From my research, those were the three business cards that I found to be the most unique. Imagine yourself handing a recruiter a piece of meat instead of a traditional business card. Don't you think you'd stand out? Obviously a unique business card is just the first step in brand building. A business card really has nothing to do with building your brand, it has to do with gaining the attention of others so you can show them what your brand is. Otherwise, you may not have the opportunity to show them what you've got. 

Word of Mouth.

"If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. 

Word of mouth is very powerful."- Jeff Bezos

The power of word-of-mouth is exemplified in something that my father once told me. "Do something great for your customers, and they'll tell one person. Do something wrong for your customers, and they'll tell ten." I'm unsure of the accuracy of those statistics. Regardless, the point is communicated- Word of mouth can work positively, or negatively for your company. If you screw up, it's huge. If you do good, it potentially goes unheard. 


Here are some interesting stats:

• 16,000- The number of words spoken a day by an average person. (University of Arizona)
• 200 Million- the number of word of mouth recommendations made everyday in Canada. (Agent Wildfire)
• 93%- Percentage of consumer purchase decisions primarily influenced by word of mouth. (NOP World)
• The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010)
• 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users. (Econsultancy, July 2009)
• Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases, according to ZenithOptimedia. (AdAge, April, 2008)
• 4%- Estimated recall of TV advertisements from the last show we watched, down from 34% in 1965.(Newspaper Bureau Association)

Word of mouth is more powerful than ever, and it's imperative that companies use this to their advantage. Create something worth talking about- deliver exceptionally in one area, be it customer service, quality, product customization, and leverage that to your best ability. Get people talking.

Marketing to Females.

Mark Gungor captures the difference between males and females in a comedic way. He's right though, women can easily make an emotional connection between a product, and that connection will keep them coming back for more. 


Take Page Premium Denim for example. I recently purchased a pair of Paige jeans and I found an insert in the back pocket, and the insert told me this:

"I want you to love your body. 

Feel comfortable in your skin. 

Be comfortable in your genes!

Thanks for believing in our product.

                                        Paige"

Not only does this memo connect with me on a personal level, it makes me feel good. It makes me feel so good that I want to spread the word about Paige denim, so I did. I showed some of my friends. I received nothing but positive responses. Although it may not have compelled them to go purchase Paige premium denim, the next time they see it in-store they may be willing to try on a pair, who knows.

Another example? Sanctuary Clothing. Sanctuary Clothing is a company founded in 1997 out of Los Angeles (www.sanctuaryclothing.com) that includes a small bracelet and charm with every purchase of their apparel. The bracelet comes with a cardboard cutout that says "Look for the Sanctuary symbol- Your Quality Guarantee." The charm is their logo, a small bird with the words sanctuary engraved along the back. Although this is a small effort, it helps to communicate to customers that they truly care about them because they are going above and beyond what is required. They make high quality products- and they're going the extra mile to communicate this. Not only do they care, but they're doing something innovative that will help spread word of mouth. I won't be surprised if Sanctuary experiences high growth over the next few years as North America emerges from the recession.

Paige Premium Denim and Sanctuary Clothing are just two companies that successfully market to women. They're establishing an emotional connection with their consumers, therefore creating brand loyalty, and spreading the word at the same time. 

CD Baby is a Purple Cow.

I just finished reading Seth Godin's Book- Purple Cow. Seth Godin stresses that in order to be successful in a crowded marketplace, you need to create a Purple Cow. So what is a "Purple Cow"? Put simply, a Purple Cow is a remarkable product. The product is so remarkable that it sells itself to a specific target market, without a large marketing budget. For example, Starbucks was remarkable in offering superior customer service to coffee enthusiasts. The word spread amongst coffee enthusiasts and eventually spread to the general public. Now Starbucks has a huge marketing budget, since it takes a mass market approach. However, when Starbucks was first getting started they relied primarily on word of mouth. They relied on the hype of their purple cow to generate their sales. 


CD Baby is a Purple Cow. They are the largest online distributor of independent music. They have created a website where they hope you will find your new favourite artist. So what is so remarkable about CD Baby?


1. They provide advice to aspiring musicians through their blog The DIY Musician (http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/). Their blog illustrates that CD Baby doesn't exist solely to make a profit, but instead to offer assistance to those who share their passion. How refreshing is it to do business with someone who is so passionate about what they do? Don't you think lack of passion in one's career is too common of an occurrence? 


2. They truly care about the well-being of their artists. In a major record deal, artists typically make $1-2 for every album that they sell. At CD Baby, artists make $6-12 per album. 


3. They pride themselves as a website that is run by artists FOR artists. The employees at CD Baby can easily relate to aspiring musicians, and this makes doing business more enjoyable for both parties. 


CD Baby has taken something boring (buying music) and made it remarkable. I encourage you to visit their website if you haven't already (www.cdbaby.com), and maybe you'll find your new favourite artist.